France eases Covid-19 rules for schools as infections soar

Prime Minister Jean Castex told France 2 television that more than 10,000 classes - two per cent of the total - had to be cancelled because of coronavirus outbreaks, but that the government would not"shut down the schools or the country".

France has suffered more than 125,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, and on Monday recorded 93,896 new coronavirus cases as the highly contagious Omicron variant drives up daily infections to record highs. Under the first change, from Tuesday, parents will no longer be obliged to pick up their child immediately for Covid testing if he or she is a contact case of a virus sufferer.

Home-testing will be deemed sufficient in such cases rather than testing at an officially approved site, with the parents signing a certificate to confirm the result.France's biggest primary teachers' union the SNUipp-FSU, which denounced the"indescribable mess" in the school system and"a strong feeling of abandonment and anger among the staff", has called for a national strike on Thursday.

"It displays total contempt for the teachers who are on the ground. This will not at all reduce the number of contaminations at school," she said."On the contrary, it will multiply them tenfold, because a certificate on the honour of the parents is now sufficient."

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